Category Archives: Childhood Obesity

(Reuters Health) - In eastern Massachusetts, the number of kids under age six who are obese declined significantly in recent years -- a trend that might be happening nationwide as well, according to a new study.
On the down side, obesity rates among lower-income children remain more stubbornly stable, researchers report in the journal Pediatrics.
Recent studies have shown that after decades of rising obesity rates among U.S. kids and teens, the numbers seem to be leveling off.
But.

Common childhood obesity -- the kind we usually blame on overindulgence and inactivity -- also has a genetic component, an international collaboration of researchers has concluded.
Using genome-wide association techniques, the researchers showed that several genetic variants associated with adult obesity are also active in childhood obesity, according to Struan Grant of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and colleagues.
As well, the analysis found two new genetic variants that had not been previously associated with obesity, Struan and colleagues reported online in Nature Genetics.
The findings show that.

Childhood obesity for some kids may be triggered by two genetic variations, according to a new study.
Although poor food choices and lack of exercise are often blamed for the country's burgeoning childhood obesity epidemic, the researchers behind the new study say a genetic component may also share some responsibility.
"This is the largest-ever genome-wide study of common childhood obesity," study author Dr. Struan F.A. Grant, associate director of the Center for Applied Genomics at The Children's Hospital.

Researchers have linked two new genes with an increased risk of obesity in children, a new study says.
The genes show a strong association with childhood obesity, the researchers say.
Previous studies have identified genes associated with obesity in adults, and in children with extreme obesity due to an underlying condition, but the new study is the first to link genes with childhood obesity in the general population.
"We see a clear genetic signature to childhood obesity, showing there.

“Childhood obesity is one of the most serious public health challenges of the 21st century,” reports the World Health Organization (WHO).
“The problem is global and is steadily affecting many low- and middle-income countries, particularly in urban settings...Globally, in 2010 the number of overweight children under the age of five, is estimated to be over 42 million. Close to 35 million of these are living in developing countries.”
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